‘Jose Mourinho is not a psychopath’ – that’s what the Real Madrid lawyers will try and prove if they follow up their threat to take action against a former Barcelona vice-president, who levelled the insult at the Portuguese manager on Tuesday night.

The Portuguese manager has given the club’s legal team plenty of work since taking over the Bernabeu reins in 2010, although this is the first time they have targeted a Twitter user.

As he watched Mourinho celebrate Real’s winning Champions League goal against Manchester City, Alfons Godall – an ex-Barca chief, wrote: ‘A shame the psychopath celebrates his goals as if he was a player.

‘It would be something to make up for the frustration of having been a very bad player.

‘The psychopath’s team has saved three points.’

Mourinho had already started proceedings against the editor-in-chief of Marca, the Madrid-based sports daily, over an article in which he said the 49-year-old was ‘the type of person who would flee after knocking someone down’.

In a statement, the club said: ‘Real Madrid is not going to allow attacks of this kind and will always take action against those who question the honour of people who form a part of this club.’

Last year, Mourinho sued the El Pais newspaper after a columnist called him a ‘Nazi Portuguese’.